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Diaoyu Islands (Japan: Senkaku Islands) are a group of small islands located between Taiwan and the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan. (Coordinate: 25°47′53″N 124°03′21″E). The territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands have once again became the news headline after a group of Chinese activists landed on the island to proclaim the Chinese sovereignty.  The tension between China and Japan started to raise after the Japanese Maritime SDF arrested these activists. The foreign ministry of both China and Taiwan have condemned the Japanese activities in the surrounding waters of Diaoyu Islands since the Japanese occupation of Diaoyu Island. Most historical documents have shown the Chinese legitimacy over the Diaoyu Islands since the Ming Dynasty. The problem of Diaoyu Island is one of the unsolved territorial disputes caused by the World War II. A massive anti-Japanese protest and boycotting has triggered across China. Many people believed that this is the rise of Japanese imperialism.

The Diaoyu Islands were first discovered by the Chinese during the 15th century. The name "Diaoyu" means fishing in Chinese and that area has became an important fisheries ground for Chinese fisherman. According to the official record of Ming Dynasty, Diaoyu Islands were used as a major coordinate for the trading route between Fujian Province and the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is known as the Okinawa Prefecture in the present days. China gained back the administration of Taiwan after defecting the Dutch colonists during the early period of Qing Dynasty. On the official maps published by the Qing Dynasty, Diaoyu Islands were marked as the the subsidiary islands of Taiwan. Japan annexed Taiwan and its subsidiary islands under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 and ruled the area for 50 years until the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II in 1945.

According to the Cairo Declaration in 1943, Japan has returned Taiwan and other Japanese occupied regions across China to the former Nationalist Government. However, the Diaoyu Islands and Okinawa Prefecture and were taken over by the U.S Government under the Treaty of San Francisco. During the period of American civil rules, oils and other valuable natural resources were discovered in the surrounding waters of Diaoyu Island.  The Japanese government changed the name of the Island to "Senkaku Islands" after Japan resumes the control of Okinawa in 1972. Both People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan) protested against the Japanese action and started to officially claim the islands. Both government have shared the same point of views towards the Japanese. The government of Japan did not claim over the islands until they saw the economic values of these areas.

Since the 1970's, activists from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have made several attempts to land on the Diaoyu Islands in order to proclaim the Chinese sovereignty. However, many attempts were blocked by the Japanese Marine SDF. A few fishing boats were also sank by the Japanese navies during the confrontations.

Concerning the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, it is pretty obvious that China, as well as Taiwan, have the original ownership and legitimacy over the islands. Any Japanese activities and military garrisons should be considered illegal. China has vowed to defend the territory if necessary.

2011 was an important year for China. The nation's economy was not really affected by the financial crisis caused by the United States and the European Union. The oriental dragon has once again raised its reputations in the world community with the participation of major international events.

Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to the United States in the beginning of 2011. It was considered as one of the most important state visit in the new decade as the two largest economic superpowers came together to discuss about the trade deficits, appreciation of Reminbi  as well as the situations in the Korean Peninsular. Many economist stated that the U.S. government is using this chance to boost its economy by selling more dollars and encourage Chinese tourists.

China also participated in many international events and played an important role in preventing regional conflicts  and promoting peace. China's participations during the APEC summit and the talks on the North Korean nuclear issues was is important to the stability of the world. When the devastated earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan, China immediately sent  a rescue team to the affected region along with many relief supplies. During the Arabic Spring movement in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, the Chinese government quickly evacuated its nationals in these region and abstained the vote on the military interventions in the UN assembly along with Russia and Germany. The Chinese government also maintained a good relation with the Taiwanese government and continues to encourage culture and educational exchanges over the Taiwan Strait.

China has archived their technological breakthrough in the field of aerospace with the launching of unmanned Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 Spacecraft. The two spacecraft then successfully made an autonomous docking on their orbit. Shenzhou 8 returned to the ground afterwards while Tiangong 1 remained in space and waiting for the upcoming manned mission of Shenzhou 9 in 2012. This docking process has set a basis for the future Chinese space stations.

2011 was the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China as well as the centennial anniversary of Xinhai Revolution which ended the 2000 years of feudal rules and established the Republic of China.

After six months of fighting, rebels of the anti-Gaddafi regime, known as the National Transition Council, have successfully taken over the coastal city of Sirte, the last stronghold of the former regime. Muammar Gaddafi was shot and killed in his hometown of Sirte, his body was in custody of the National Transition Council of Libya. This event has officially marked the end of the Gaddafi's Libya that lasted for over 40 years.

The crisis in Libya began during the February of 2011. People of Libya started to stand up and urge for more personal freedom with the influences from neighboring countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. This massive protest soon became a large scale crisis and immediately brought the international attention. The United Nations  established a non-fly zone over Libya during March while the NATO conducted several airstrikes against the Gaddafi's ground forces. The National Transition Council of Libya was formed in Benghazi, a coastal city in eastern Libya, during March. Its goal was to organize all the anti-Gaddafi rebels in Libya and establishes a fully democratized republic. The rebels were advancing day by day and finally captured the Libyan capital city of Tripoli and ousted the former regime but Gaddafi and his family have escaped the city without any trace.

In September of 2011, the United Nations and the European Union recognized the National Transition Council of Libya as the only legal representative of Libya. Soon, most countries around the world have abandoned the diplomatic relationship with the former regime and recognized the National Transition Council. With the death of Gaddafi on October 20th, the National Transition Council has scheduled the Libyan liberation announcement on the 22nd of this month.

Steve Jobs, the former CEO and the co-founder of Apple Inc., passed away Wednesday after a 7 years battle with the pancreatic cancer.

Steve Jobs, along with Steve Wozniak, founded the Apple Inc. in 1976 and started to create personal computers such as Apple I and Apple II. In 1984, Jobs introduced the first commercial use PC - the Macintosh and it has quickly changed the idea about computers among the ordinary people.

Unfortunately, due to an internal conflict in 1985, Steve Jobs was fired by Apple. After that, he founded company called NeXT computer and another one called Pixar Animation. Both companies have paid an important contribution to the industry. Steve Jobs was the executive producer of 1995 3D animation film Toy Story.

Apple bought the NeXT computers in 1997 and brought back the company's co-founder Steve Jobs. He became the CEO in July of the same year and began to reform Apple by terminating projects like the Newton. In 1998, he introduced the first iMac and it has immediately raised the reputation and the market share of Apple.

In 2001, Steve Jobs introduced a portable media player named iPod and it has became a revolution in the music industry. Apple's reputation has been undergoing a significant raise in the first decade of the 21st century with the sale of the iPods.

In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone and it has changed people's perspectives about cellphones. The iPad, which was just introduced last year, has set up a industry standard for all tablets.

Steve Jobs was infected with the pancreatic cancer in 2004 and brought many people's attention on his health issues since then. He received a liver transplant in 2009 and took several medical leaves after that. Steve resigned as Apple CEO in August 2011 due to serious health issues, the spot of CEO has been replaced by Tim Cook. Jobs died peacefully at his home on October 5th according to his family.

After the death of Steve Jobs, Apple changed it's official websites to a huge black and white portrait of Steve to remember the death of this great man. President Obama, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page have expressed their sorrow and sadness regarding to this sudden news.

Apple fans all around the world are currently paying a tribute to Steve Jobs by posting remembrance stickers at their local Apple Stores.

The year 2011 is the 100th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution, the revolution that changed the destiny of all the Chinese people.

On October 11th, 1911, the supporters of Dr. Sun Yet-sun and other revolutionaries started the the Wuchang Uprising which marked the beginning of Xinhai Revolution against the Qing Dynasty, the feudal empire that ruled China for more than three hundreds and fifty years. The Qing Dynasty was officially dissolved on February 12th, 1912, which was followed by the establishment of the first republic in Asia - the Republic of China. 

During Qing Dynasty, China was not ruled by the Han people, it was ruled by the Manchus who took over Beijing and overthrown the Ming Dynasty in 1644. China was completely closed up during the rules of Manchus which caused the domestic development to slow down. This serious of internal corruptions caused the western countries to invade China in the mid-1800's. British for example, started the Optium War against China and gain the rights over Hong Kong under the Treaty of Nanjing, which was the first unequal treaty signed in the history of China. The British also transported many opium to China and caused a great amount of Manchu officials to suffer illnesses and pains. Soon, Russians took northern Manchuria, Japan took over the island of Taiwan and Germany occupied the Shandong Peninsular. All of China was in chaos. 

The people of China finally woke up in this chaos when revolutionaries such as Dr. Sun Yet-sun spreads the benefits of a democratic society. Soon, revolutionaries from all across China were united when Sun established Tongmenghui, known as the Chinese United League. After the overthrown of Qing Dynasty. The Provisional Government of Republic of China was established and Sun Yet-sun became the first president in China.

Today, Chinese from all across the world are celebrating the victory of Xinhai Revolution. October 11th is also known as the Double Ten Day in Taiwan, which is recognized as the National Day of the Republic of China.

It has been ten years since the horrific attack on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. It was the event that brought America into the War on Terror and it has became a symbol for the destruction of humanity. The site of the Twin Towers, Ground Zero, still lays the memories of those who sacrificed their lives on the day of the attack. Although Bin Laden has came to an end after a decade, but the war against terrorism continues on.

It was an ordinary Tuesday morning in New York City, everybody was on their routine schedule to work. None of them will know that a tragedy was about to take place...........

American Airlines 11, a routine flight from Boston to Los Angeles, was hijacked in the mid air and crashed into the North Tower of World Trade Center at 8:36 local time, leaving the upper portion of the building in smoke. Meanwhile, United Airlines 175, another flight from Boston to Los Angeles, was also hijacked and crashed into the South Tower of World Trade Center at 9:03, which caused a huge explosion between level 77 and 85 of the building. Evacuation notice was issued right after the strike for all people who were in the impacted zone as well as the buildings of WTC. The South Tower collapsed at 9:58 and the North Tower collapsed at 10:20 which leaved Downtown Manhattan in smokes and ashes. 2752 people, which includes 157 passengers, were killed in this event and only a small amount of people survived from the collapse. At 5:21 PM, 7 World Trade Center collapsed completely due to fire according to the official report.

A portion of the Pentagon in Washington D.C was also damaged by a hijacked American Airlines 77 from Washington Dulles. 125 people in the building were killed and no survivals on the aircraft. United Airlines 93 from Newark to San Francisco was the fourth and the last aircraft that got hijacked during 9/11. This aircraft was planned to strike the U.S. Capitol Building in the east end of National Mall but instead it crashed into a grassland near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when the passengers tried to regain the control of the airplane. None of the people on board survived.

The site of the Twin Towers in New York was replaced by two enormous water fountains embraced by black marbles that are marked with the name of the victims. The new WTC Building 7 was constructed on the old site and the One World Trade Center, a new skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, is scheduled to complete in 2013 and will become the tallest building in the United States. Memorials dedicated to the 9/11 victims can be also found in near the Pentagon and the crash site of United 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

During the tenth anniversary of 9/11 Attack, U.S. President Barack Obama visited the 9/11 memorials in New York, Shanksville and Arlington and made speeches to encourage American Patriotism.

1921: The Chinese Communist Party was founded during the summer of 1921 by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. The National Congress of CCP was held in the French Section of Shanghai on July 23nd. Due to the sudden inspection by French polices, the last meeting was held on a fishing boat in the South Lake of Jiaxing. The Central Committee of CCP decided to make July 1st as the anniversary of foundation of the party. Early members of CCP include Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao and later Deng Xiaoping (in France).

1922: CCP joined the Comintern and accepted supervision from the Communist Party of Soviet Union.

1923 - 1924: The founder of Republic of China, Sun Yet-sun, decided to work closely with CCP after a meeting with the Comintern representative Henk Sneevliet. All members of CCP joined the Kuomintang as Sun hosted the First National Assembly in 1924 and decided to unite with the Soviet Union and the CCP to solve the domestic problems of China such as imperialism and feudalism. This marked the first cooperation between Kuomintang and CCP. With the help from the Soviets, Huangpu Military School was opened in Guangzhou with Chiang Kai-shek as the principal.

1925 - 1927: After the death of Sun Yet-sun in 1925. Chiang Kai-sheck gained the power of Kuomintang and launched a full scale attack on CCP and killed many of its members. As a result, CCP leads by Zhou Enlai started the Nanchang Uprising in 1927 and built their own army called the “People's Liberation Army". Nanchang Uprising marked the first break up of Kuomintang and CCP.

1927 - 1930: CCP carried out several uprisings in southern China and caused the Kuomintang to attack the communist bases in Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong Province.

1931: Mao Zedong established a communist regime in Jiangxi Province named "Chinese Soviet Republic". The Kuomintang Government decided to destroy this regime by launching Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet.

1934 - 1936: Kuomintang finally succeeded on the 5th Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet. As a result, the Red Army in Jiangxi and Hunan led by Mao launched a full scale retreat to Yan'an in northwest China known as the "Long March". The Long March last for 2 years and stretched over 12,000 kilometers. The communists encountered many problems during their retreat which includes extreme cold weather, lack of foods and the advancing of Chiang's forces on their back. As a result, only 25,000 out of the original 300,000 arrived at their final destination.

1936: The arrest of Chiang Kai-sheck by his colleague Zhang Xueliang during Xi'an Incident forced KMT to cooperate with CCP due to the Japanese aggression on China.

1937 - 1945: Japanese started to attack central China and launched the second Sino-Japanese War. The communist party transformed its red armies into Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army. Both divisions will be led and supervised by Kuomintang and the Nationalist Government to defend China from foreign attack.

1945: Japanese surrendered in China as the World War 2 ended. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai flew to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-sheck and his Kuomintang representatives about China's future and the forming of a united democratic government.

1945 - 1949: Chiang betrayed the joint agreement that was made between KMT and CCP and started to attack CCP controlled regions all across China. The Chinese Civil War broke out again. A lot of civilians and members of other parties strongly opposed this warfare and stated that Chinese people killing each other are not acceptable. Many opposition personnel were either arrested or killed by KMT spies. At the same time, the United States Government terminated the financial support for the KMT regime and caused the party to lose its advantage during the civil war. After 4 years of fighting, CCP captured most of Mainland China and forced the Nationalist Government to retreat to Taiwan.

1949: The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1st.

1950: The People's Liberation Army liberated Tibet and cleared out the local separatists.

1950 - 1953: Due to the warfare in the Korean Peninsula, the CCP decided to send voluntary forces to North Korea and participated in the Korean War.

1953 - 1966: The CCP launched many political events in the next decade, most of these events heavily damaged the society and economy of China. One of the most famous event was the "Great Leap Forward" which was later on became the direct cause of the "Great Chinese Famine". During early 1960's, conflict broke out between CCP and Khrushchev, the head of USSR. A series of "Anti-Soviet" movement occurred after the recall of Soviet experts. The Chinese Government stated that the Soviets were "social imperialism".

1966: Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution and caused a huge depression in the nation's economy and a disaster for Chinese culture. A lot of ancient Chinese antiques and heritage sites were either ruined or destroyed by Mao's Red Guard. It was known as the dark age of the republic, schools and universities were terminated as scholars and intellectuals were classified as "Going Capitalized". Many of Mao's old colleague such as Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were classified as "Anti-Revolution" and expelled from the party. Liu Shaoqi was persecuted to death while Deng Xiaoping was back in office after the disaster. A political organization named "Gang of Four" was formed during the Cultural Revolution to secure the central leadership.

1972: US President Richard Nixon changed his foreign policy and paid an ice-breaking trip to China. During the same year, the United Nation replaced the seat for China with PRC instead of ROC.

1976: Mao Zedong died in Beijing as the Culture Revolution came to an end. Gang of Four was arrested and sent to justice.

1978: Deng Xiaoping came back to office and became the top leader of CCP. He stated that China needs to reform and open up to the whole world. The nation needs to focus on economy and international trade instead of making useless political events. The reformed government also rehabilitated the people who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

1979: China officially launched the "Reform and Open Up" plan carried out by Deng Xiaoping. He appointed several cities along the Chinese coastline such as Tianjin, Qingdao and Shenzhen to open up for international trade. Shenzhen for example, was just a fishing village before 1980 and was quickly transformed into a major metropolis in southern China during the 1990's.

1984 - 1985: Deng Xiaoping negotiated with the British and Portuguese Government about the issues regarding to Hong Kong and Macau's sovereignty. The Joint Declaration with Britain and Portugal was made in 1988 and announced that Hong Kong will return to China in 1997 and Macau in 1999.

1989: University students went on a hunger strike in the Tiananment Square of Beijing due to the desire of more democracies in China. As a result, CCP sent troops into Beijing and cracked down this democratic movement with the casualties of over a hundred students. This incident was known as "June 4th Incident" to the western world and information about this event is still forbidden in Mainland China.

1990: CCP decided to open up Pudong region in Shanghai as an economic zone.

1992: Deng Xiaoping made a visit to southern China to see the progress of economic development. During that time, a lot of cities along the coastline were refreshed with modern skyscrapers and the living standard in China has greatly raised.

1993: Jiang Zemin (President) and Li Peng (Prime Minister) became the third generation CCP top leaders.

1997: Hong Kong return to China on July 1st.

1999: Macau return to China on December 20th.

2001: China joined the World Trade Organization.

2002-2003: Hu Jintao (President) and Wen Jiabao (Prime Minister) became the fourth generation CCP top leaders.

2005: CCP invited the head of Kuomintang, Lien Chan, to visit the mainland. He was the first Kuomintang leader who visited the mainland since the broke up in 1949. The trip of Lien Chan has promoted the cross-strait relation and restored the peace talk over the Taiwan Strait.

2008: Beijing successfully host the 29th Summer Olympic Game.

2010: Expo 2010 in Shanghai. China signed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Taiwanese Authority.

2011: 90th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.